Bryan Hodgson Is building something real for USF basketball

The setting was a Zoom meeting USF basketball coach Bryan Hodgson had with me and a couple of other reporters. The Bulls were coming off a close early-season loss at George Washington where they had struggled mightily from the 3-point line.

Particularly, sharpshooter Joseph Pinion misfired most of the afternoon, going 1-for-13 from behind the arc. Hodgson, who brought Pinion with him from Arkansas State, left him in for 38 minutes despite the struggles.

At one point in the Zoom, Hodgson mentioned that he had heard from some Bulls fans who basically wanted his head for leaving Pinion in for that long when he was missing so many shots.

After detailing all the "dirty work" Pinion had done in that game -- setting screens, tying for the team-lead with seven rebounds, playing tough defense -- Hodgson said with a chuckle that those critics "must not know much about basketball."

Most coaches would never mention the flak they had received, but Hodgson is not most coaches. His response told me two things: He will say what's on his mind whether you like it or not, and will always have his players' backs.

Refreshing! And by the way, Pinion has proven to be a special player.

Basketball coaches are special, in my book. They are wired differently so they can attempt to control an uncontrollable game. And of all the coaches I've covered over the years at USF -- unfortunately, I missed direct interaction with Amir Abdur-Rahim -- Hodgson will rank with the best.

Lee Rose was the most accomplished coach in USF history, coming here after a Final Four appearance at Purdue. He was demanding, controlling, and utterly brilliant at preparing a basketball team.

Bobby Paschal prepared one of USF's best teams ever, After losing 20 or more games for three years straight years, Paschal's 1990 team won the program's first Sun Belt Conference title and played No. 2-seed Arizona tough in the opening round of the NCAA tournament before falling 79-67.

Seth Greenberg was mercurial, entertaining, and mostly successful until he left for Virginia Tech.

Stan Heath, in my opinion, got a raw deal at USF. He was the Big East coach of the year in 2012 and led the Bulls to a pair of NCAA tournament wins. They were five minutes from the Sweet 16 before falling to Ohio U. He was fired a couple of years later for things out of his control.

We know about the awesome year Coach Amir produced two years ago. Dadgum, that was exciting.

But that brings us back to Hodgson. Like Coach Amir, he has USF in contention for an American Conference championship. The Bulls are getting better as the season goes on.

He has shown he will coach his players hard -- in their face, if necessary, as he sometimes was Sunday in the win over Florida Atlantic.

He will say what's on his mind, as he did after that game when he said, ""Thought we were just, I mean, to be honest with you, just horrendous in the first half. I don't know what it was, but I'm not gonna sugarcoat things. It was bad."

However, he is as likely to hug a player as he is to criticize -- sometimes in same moment,

His hiring at USF by former VP of Athletics Michael Kelly was widely praised.

As January prepares to turn to February, the results are there.

Hodgson is honest, highly skilled, and, yes, "the real deal."